THE CLAMS. 707 



[Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts]. The Teredo Thomsoni has been found in great numbers in 

 the marine railway and also in cedar buoys at Few Bedford. It has also been found at 

 Provincetown in a whaling-ship that had cruised in the West Indies. 



"The Xylotrya finibriata is very similar to the common Toredo, except that it has long, oar- 

 shaped pallets, with slender stalks ; the blade is flattened on the inside and convex externally, 

 and consists of ten to twelve or more funnel-shaped segments which set one into another ; their 

 margins project at the sides, making the edges of the blade appear serrated. This species appears 

 to be indigenous on this coast. It has been found living in a sunken wreck in Long Island Sound, 

 near New Haven, and I have also taken it from the oak timbers of a vessel, the "Peterhoff," 

 employed in the blockading service, during the late war, on the coast of the Southern States. It 

 grows to a rather large size, often forming holes a foot or more in length and a quarter of an inch 

 in diameter, though usually smaller. The pallets are sometimes half an inch long." 



Less likely to be mistaken for worms, but equally clever at boring, is a group of shells called 

 Pholads, from the Greek word <pu)Uu>^ lurking. They perforate all substances that are softer than 

 their own valves, and some that seem to be harder. Woodward says: "It is to be remarked that 

 the condition of the Pholades is always related to the nature of the material in which they are 

 found burrowing; in soft sea-beds they attain the largest size and greatest perfection, whilst in 

 hard and especially gritty rock they are dwarfed in size and all prominent points and ridges 

 appear worn by friction." The Pholads liave white shells, generally very thin but hard and 

 strong, and adorned with rasp-like sculpture. It was supposed formerly that the excavation was 

 made by twisting and moving this rough shell in the burrow; bat the muscular, clnb-shaped foot 

 is no doubt the instrument of abrasion. 



We have upon the east coast three species, but none of them are of practical importance. 

 They might become available for food, however, since the same moUusks are eaten in the southern 

 counties of England, where they are called "Piddocks," and some cousins {Zirphwa crispata, 

 Platydon cancellatus, etc.) are esteemed delicacies on the coast of California under the name of 

 ''Date-flsh." Other west-coast species {Kavea, OastrochcBna, etc.) are enemies of the Oyster, 

 Abalone, and other mollusks which themselves have a commercial importance, since they burrow 

 into their shells and so ruin them for service to man. There is, nevertheless, an attendant 

 advantage in this, since in a state of nature the Pholads thus break to pieces and tend to level 

 reefs that would prove obstructive to navigation, particularly in the case of coral banks. When 

 the object leveled is an expensive dike or breakwater, however, the result is exactly reversed, as 

 it is very likely to be where man's arts attempt to change the natural arrangement of things. 



Our Eazor-shell {Unsatella americana) is frequently used for food in Europe and in New 

 England, and its valves have occasionally been applied to artistic service. It passes under the 

 various names of " Eazor-flsh," " Eazor-clam," " Knife-handle," etc., and is enticed from its sandy 

 burrow by sprinkling salt upon the sand under which it lies, or is rooted out with a spade. John 

 Josselyn, Gent., records that its " shell, calcin'd and pulveriz'd, is excellent to take off a pin and 

 web, or any kind of filme growing over the eye."- The Oalifornian Eazor-flsh [Siliqua patula) is 

 also edible. 



Next upon the list comes the " Soft Clam," "Long Clam," or "Nanninose" (Mya arenaria)y 

 dear to New Englanders and only less numerous than the Hard Clam in the markets of New York 

 and Philadelphia. This Clam lives just beneath the surface of the sand and mud above low- water 

 mark, and is easily dug out with a hand-shovel. A very large class of persons all along the shore 

 from Maine to Delaware derive their living wholly or in part by digging it and shipping to city 

 markets. This is chiefly the case north of New York, however. On the northern coasts of New 



